Jaws kidding — man comes clean about ‘shark’ in Midlands dam

THE maker of a YouTube video titled “OMG — Shark in a farm dam?” has confessed that the creature swimming ominously around in the picturesque Midlands dam is really nothing sinister.

Ryan McFie (33) said the video was shot on Sunday at a bass dam on a farm near Lions River.

McFie, an enthusiastic fisherman, decided to have a bit of fun with the video, saying he thought the concept was “quite cool”.

He captioned it: “While fishing for bass at a local farm dam (Natal Midlands) I saw this Shark like fin? OMG. The wind is blowing from right to left and it’s swimming into the wind so not a log! Anything is possible in Africa … What do you think it is?”

His video shows a dam in a tranquil setting on a clear day. The camera zooms in to focus on a fin that moves around the dam, with birds singing sweetly in the background.

But it’s not Jaws of the Midlands — it is merely one of a pair of massive grass carp.

“The farmers put grass carp into their dams to control the weeds and keep the water clear for irrigation,” said McFie.

He said the fish in that dam had been there for years and had reached a length of around 1,5 metres each.

“They are not dangerous. People swim with them. I have walked through the dam, but they just stay away. We’ve tried to catch them, but they are not bothered by our attempts.”

He said his video had been looked at by a few people, but no one had cottoned on yet that it was a joke. “I don’t want people thinking I’ve put a shark in the dam,” he laughed.

McFie, a project manager for a local firm of architects, has been posting videos on YouTube since 2009. He is also part of a successful frisbee team based in Pietermaritzburg. See the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH9_VfrWOOo

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